Binary black hole merger dynamics and waveforms

We study dynamics and radiation generation in the last few orbits and merger of a binary black hole system, applying recently developed techniques for simulations of moving black holes. Our analysis of the gravitational radiation waveforms and dynamical black hole trajectories produces a consistent picture for a set of simulations with black holes beginning on circular-orbit trajectories at a variety of initial separations. We find profound agreement at the level of one percent among the simulations for the last orbit, merger and ringdown. We are confident that this part of our waveform result accurately represents the predictions from Einstein's General Relativity for the final burst of gravitational radiation resulting from the merger of an astrophysical system of equal-mass non-spinning black holes. The simulations result in a final black hole with spin parameter a/m=0.69. We also find good agreement at a level of roughly 10 percent for the radiation generated in the preceding few orbits.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRD, update citations, minor change

Advanced Systems for Monitoring Underwater Sounds

The term "Passive Acoustic Monitoring System" (PAMS) describes a developmental sensing-and-data-acquisition system for recording underwater sounds. The sounds (more precisely, digitized and preprocessed versions from acoustic transducers) are subsequently analyzed by a combination of data processing and interpretation to identify and/or, in some cases, to locate the sources of those sounds. PAMS was originally designed to locate the sources such as fish of species that one knows or seeks to identify. The PAMS unit could also be used to locate other sources, for example, marine life, human divers, and/or vessels. The underlying principles of passive acoustic sensing and analyzing acoustic-signal data in conjunction with temperature and salinity data are not new and not unique to PAMS. Part of the uniqueness of the PAMS design is that it is the first deep-sea instrumentation design to provide a capability for studying soniferous marine animals (especially fish) over the wide depth range described below. The uniqueness of PAMS also lies partly in a synergistic combination of advanced sensing, packaging, and data-processing design features with features adapted from proven marine instrumentation systems. This combination affords a versatility that enables adaptation to a variety of undersea missions using a variety of sensors. The interpretation of acoustic data can include visual inspection of power-spectrum plots for identification of spectral signatures of known biological species or artificial sources. Alternatively or in addition, data analysis could include determination of relative times of arrival of signals at different acoustic sensors arrayed at known locations. From these times of arrival, locations of acoustic sources (and errors in those locations) can be estimated. Estimates of relative locations of sources and sensors can be refined through analysis of the attenuation of sound in the intervening water in combination with water-temperature and salinity data acquired by instrumentation systems other than PAMS. A PAMS is packaged as a battery-powered unit, mated with external sensors, that can operate in the ocean at any depth from 2 m to 1 km. A PAMS includes a pressure housing, a deep-sea battery, a hydrophone (which is one of the mating external sensors), and an external monitor and keyboard box. In addition to acoustic transducers, external sensors can include temperature probes and, potentially, underwater cameras. The pressure housing contains a computer that includes a hard drive, DC-to- DC power converters, a post-amplifier board, a sound card, and a universal serial bus (USB) 4-port hub

Binary black hole late inspiral: Simulations for gravitational wave observations

Coalescing binary black hole mergers are expected to be the strongest gravitational wave sources for ground-based interferometers, such as the LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, as well as the space-based interferometer LISA. Until recently it has been impossible to reliably derive the predictions of General Relativity for the final merger stage, which takes place in the strong-field regime. Recent progress in numerical relativity simulations is, however, revolutionizing our understanding of these systems. We examine here the specific case of merging equal-mass Schwarzschild black holes in detail, presenting new simulations in which the black holes start in the late inspiral stage on orbits with very low eccentricity and evolve for ~1200M through ~7 orbits before merging. We study the accuracy and consistency of our simulations and the resulting gravitational waveforms, which encompass ~14 cycles before merger, and highlight the importance of using frequency (rather than time) to set the physical reference when comparing models. Matching our results to PN calculations for the earlier parts of the inspiral provides a combined waveform with less than half a cycle of accumulated phase error through the entire coalescence. Using this waveform, we calculate signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) for iLIGO, adLIGO, and LISA, highlighting the contributions from the late-inspiral and merger-ringdown parts of the waveform which can now be simulated numerically. Contour plots of SNR as a function of z and M show that adLIGO can achieve SNR >~ 10 for some intermediate-mass binary black holes (IMBBHs) out to z ~ 1, and that LISA can see massive binary black holes (MBBHs) in the range 3x10^4 100 out to the earliest epochs of structure formation at z > 15.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures. Final published versio

GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EXTRACTION FROM AN INSPIRALING CONFIGURATION OF MERGING BLACK HOLES

We present new techniques for evolving binary black hole systems which allow the accurate determination of gravitational waveforms directly from the wave zone region of the numerical simulations. Rather than excising the black hole interiors, our approach follows the "puncture" treatment of black holes, but utilizing a new gauge condition which allows the black holes to move successfully through the computational domain. We apply these techniques to an inspiraling binary, modeling the radiation generated during the final plunge and ringdown. We demonstrate convergence of the waveforms and and good conservation of mass-energy, with just over 3% of the system s mass converted to gravitational radiation

Gauge Conditions for Moving Black Holes Without Excision

Recent demonstrations of unexcised, puncture black holes traversing freely across computational grids represent a significant advance in numerical relativity. Stable an$ accurate simulations of multiple orbits, and their radiated waves, result. This capability is critically undergirded by a careful choice of gauge. Here we present analytic considerations which suggest certain gauge choices, and numerically demonstrate their efficacy in evolving a single moving puncture

Relativistic Suppression of Black Hole Recoils

Numerical-relativity simulations indicate that the black hole produced in a binary merger can recoil with a velocity up to v_max ~ 4,000 km/s with respect to the center of mass of the initial binary. This challenges the paradigm that most galaxies form through hierarchical mergers, yet retain supermassive black holes at their centers despite having escape velocities much less than v_max. Interaction with a circumbinary disk can align the binary black hole spins with their orbital angular momentum, reducing the recoil velocity of the final black hole produced in the subsequent merger. However, the effectiveness of this alignment depends on highly uncertain accretion flows near the binary black holes. In this Letter, we show that if the spin S_1 of the more massive binary black hole is even partially aligned with the orbital angular momentum L, relativistic spin precession on sub-parsec scales can align the binary black hole spins with each other. This alignment significantly reduces the recoil velocity even in the absence of gas. For example, if the angle between S_1 and L at large separations is 10 degrees while the second spin S_2 is isotropically distributed, the spin alignment discussed in this paper reduces the median recoil from 864 km/s to 273 km/s for maximally spinning black holes with a mass ratio of 9/11. This reduction will greatly increase the fraction of galaxies retaining their supermassive black holes.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ApJ

Getting a kick out of numerical relativity

Recent developments in numerical relativity have made it possible to follow reliably the coalescence of two black holes from near the innermost stable circular orbit to final ringdown. This opens up a wide variety of exciting astrophysical applications of these simulations. Chief among these is the net kick received when two unequal mass or spinning black holes merge. The magnitude of this kick has bearing on the production and growth of supermassive black holes during the epoch of structure formation, and on the retention of black holes in stellar clusters. Here we report the first accurate numerical calculation of this kick, for two nonspinning black holes in a 1.5:1 mass ratio, which is expected based on analytic considerations to give a significant fraction of the maximum possible recoil. We have performed multiple runs with different initial separations, orbital angular momenta, resolutions, extraction radii, and gauges. The full range of our kick speeds is 86--116 km s$^{-1}$, and the most reliable runs give kicks between 86 and 97 km s$^{-1}$. This is intermediate between the estimates from two recent post-Newtonian analyses and suggests that at redshifts $z\gtrsim 10$, halos with masses $\lesssim 10^9 M_\odot$ will have difficulty retaining coalesced black holes after major mergers.Comment: Updated. Accepted by ApJ Letter

Effects of an Unusual Poison Identify a Lifespan Role for Topoisomerase 2 in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

A progressive loss of genome maintenance has been implicated as both a cause and consequence of aging. Here we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that an age-associated decay in genome maintenance promotes aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) due to an inability to sense or repair DNA damage by topoisomerase 2 (yTop2). We describe the characterization of LS1, identified in a high throughput screen for small molecules that shorten the replicative lifespan of yeast. LS1 accelerates aging without affecting proliferative growth or viability. Genetic and biochemical criteria reveal LS1 to be a weak Top2 poison. Top2 poisons induce the accumulation of covalent Top2-linked DNA double strand breaks that, if left unrepaired, lead to genome instability and death. LS1 is toxic to cells deficient in homologous recombination, suggesting that the damage it induces is normally mitigated by genome maintenance systems. The essential roles of yTop2 in proliferating cells may come with a fitness trade-off in older cells that are less able to sense or repair yTop2-mediated DNA damage. Consistent with this idea, cells live longer when yTop2 expression levels are reduced. These results identify intrinsic yTop2-mediated DNA damage as a potentially manageable cause of aging

Association of mesenchymal cells and immunoglobulins with differentiating epithelial cells

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions play an important role in the physiology and pathology of epithelial tissues. Mesenchymal cells either associate with epithelium basement membrane [pericytes and perivascular monocyte-derived cells (MDC)] or reside within epithelium (MDC and T cells). Although intraepithelial mesenchymal cells were suggested to contribute to the epithelium physiology, their association with particular steps in differentiation of epithelial cells, interactions among themselves, and their fate remain unclear. We studied epitopes of mesenchymal cells and their products (immunoglobulins) in stratified epithelium of uterine ectocervix, which is one of the prototypes of complete cellular differentiation from stem into the aged cells. RESULTS: Perivascular CD14 primitive MDC associated with basal (stem) epithelial cells. Thy-1 pericytes of microvasculature secreted intercellular vesicles, which associated with Ki67 postmitotic epithelial cells expressing MHC class I. Intraepithelial T cells showed an association with veiled type MDC [dendritic cell (DC) precursors] among parabasal cells, and exhibited fragmentation after entering intermediate (mature) epithelial layers. Mature DC secreted CD68 and exhibited fragmentation after reaching mid intermediate layers. Binding of IgM was detected at the top of each layer: in the upper parabasal, upper intermediate, and most surface epithelial cells. IgG was confined to the entire superficial layer. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the phylogenetically and ontogenetically developed hierarchy of mesenchymal cells (MDC, pericytes, T cells) and immunoglobulins (IgM, IgG) accompanies differentiation of epithelial cells from immature into the mature and aged phenotype. Further studies of an involvement of mesenchymal cells in the regulation of tissue homeostasis may bring novel approaches to the prevention and therapy of tissue dysfunctions characterized by permanent tissue immaturity (muscular dystrophy) or accelerated aging (degenerative diseases)